More on Maleficent!

Maleficent
Released:  January 29, 1959
Worldwide Box Office:  $599,000,000

Well, I had to post some more things about Maleficent.  I went last week to see the film and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of all.  As mentioned in last weeks posting, Maleficent is one of my favorite villains...or I say now hero as well?  

Disney's new twist on the story added depth and heart to her character in way that very  nicely changed my perspective on Maleficent, which was largely based on my interest in Disney's Sleeping Beauty.   It was really interesting to see how elements of the original story continued to make its familiar way into this newer story.  I particularly loved the scene where Maleficent states...."I too shall bestow a gift..."  I found myself "singing" along through this scene as I have watched that sequence many times in researching animation art over the years.

Another interesting twist was how they actually introduced the "dragon" into the story, which was much different from the original.  I don't wish to spoil any plot lines here, but considering how they changed the story, essentially no element was left out ...or as it related to Maleficent in my opinion.  Anyhow, I thought I would share a couple of layouts next that I picked awhile back that are great drawings in the development and staging of the original fight sequence with Maleficent.

                              Original Production drawings, graphite onouache on animation paper

                              Acquired:  May 20, 2011

                              Artist(s):  Unknown

                              

Both of these drawings worked up in graphite and stage the scene where Prince Philip fights Maleficent who has taken over King Stefan's castle.  Both drawings were done on very wide animation paper and show some great expression, not too mention action.  I particularly love the fiery effects against Philip shield.

So for a more climactic moment, next up is one of my ultimate favorite cel setups, the scene where Philip and Maleficent battle on the cliff in the end.  Cel setups from this scene are very rare and even more rare are complete images of her as the dragon, let alone getting on of Philip in scale.

                              Original Production Cels, gouache on celluloid

                              Acquired:  November 21, 2005

                              Artist(s):  Unknown

This setup have been trimmed down from the wide technirama celluloids typical used in Sleeping Beauty as it was filmed in 70mm cinemascope.  Philip is on a separate cel and Maleficent's cel overlays both placed on a hand-painted custom presentation background.  I usually don't care for presentation backgrounds unless they were created at the studio or were preliminary production pieces, but considering cels from this sequence are incredibly rare I fell in love with the piece.

A couple of the details with this piece that really are amazing include the hand-inked lines all throughout.  This was not one of the scenes that Disney employed the newer Xerographic technology.   Maleficent is outlined in three different colors - green, black and yellow and she includes transparent paint applied beautifully to her wings and gills.  Philip in comparison is hand-inked with hues of black, grey, brown and marroon.  I love the detail of his face and sword.  Some great work just creating the animation drawings on the original cels.  In a later post I promise to share more detail.

So, if you haven't seen Angelina Jolie bring Maleficent to life in real life on the screen....go!  You will thoroughly enjoy it.  It adds a new dimension to the early film, the art and the fantasy of it all.